Sumi Saikawa

Resume

Sumi Saikawa



Country of birth –

Japan



My qualifications –

  • Certificate III in Hospitality; Commercial Cookery (TAFE Northern Sydney Institute)
  • Chef (Hyogo Nutrition Academy – Japan)
  • Registered Administrative Nutritionist (Japan)
  • Certified Nutritionist and Dietician (Kyoto Women’s University – Japan)
  • Bachelor of Home Economics (Kyoto Women’s University – Japan)


My teaching style –

Culture and background – Cooking to me is fun. I love to make all sorts of dishes but I’m also very interested in the history and culture of each dish. I like to know about the culture and background of the food – my expertise is Japanese and I like to pass this on to my students.

Ingredients – When you walk into an Asian supermarket, you must have millions of questions ‘what is this?’ or ‘how do I use it?’ and so I always spend the first 30 minutes trying to explain Japanese ingredients and seasoning.

Recipes – I want people to make my recipes every day. I try to make the food simple and also use local ingredients.



Something unique or unusual that people might not know about me –

I was born in Kobe in Japan as a daughter of a priest at a Zen temple, which is one of the biggest Zen temples in Kobe. The Zen temple traditionally offers the vegetarian meal called ‘Shojin Ryouri’ to worshippers; sometimes the number of people can be over 100 on the same day. I was influenced by that environment that surrounded me during my childhood.